24 Jan 2021

Botswana Tertiary Student Sports Association (BOTESSA) president, Keorapetse Setlhare, says the association intends to temporarily freeze brackets competitions.

He said this during BOTESSA annual general meeting in Gaborone on January 23, noting that the association had been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought most scheduled activities to a halt, hence the need to come up with new ways to keep going. 

He said since BOTESSA affiliates were spread throughout the country, the new development was intended to help membership keep up with COVID 19 pandemic safety measures. 

He said the new development called for competitions at regional level only, saying affiliates in the north would compete amongst themselves and same would apply to those in the south,. 

Setlhare said initially games were held among three brackets composition; Bracket A entailed teachers colleges of education and Institute of Health Sciences, Bracket B comprised universities and private institutions while Bracket C comprised technical colleges.

He noted that the new development would apply when the COVID-19 pandemic situation does not normalise, adding that BOTESSA technical team would be responsible to organise all games and other relevant logistics.

He further said other codes not sanctioned by Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) would continue to be on halt while non-contact sport codes would continue.

On another note, Setlhare noted that First National Bank Botswana (FNBB) sponsorship was coming to an end in June this year. 

He said the sponsorship amounted to P3 million and had been running since 2018. 

“The sponsorship came at the right time when the association was struggling with debts,” he said.

He said achievements they had through the sponsorship was to host the first and second FNBB BOTESSA annual awards in recognition of performance by athletes and other notable stakeholders. 

He applauded efforts by FNBB towards the development of tertiary sports in the country.

Setlhare said the association had tasked Eynobo Holdings to assist in scouting for sponsors and they remained hopeful for positive results.

He also shared that one of the main challenges that the association was faced with was lack of funding for participation in international competitions, saying the association depended heavily on BNSC grants and subscriptions that was not enough to sustain all scheduled activities.

Regarding the association’s constitution, Setlhare said there was need for it to be amended accordingly so that it would continue to allow the association to fulfil its mandate. 

He also called on cooperation among association members and affiliates. Ends